CHRIS ROCK

Seth Wenig / AP

AGE: 43
OCCUPATION: Comedian, actor, producer
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1

PRO: His thoughtful, relatively subdued Rohmer remake, I Think I Love My
Wife, left audiences cold, but signaled a new seriousness that pleased
many critics. His quasi-autobiographical sitcom, Everybody Loves Chris,
is rumored for renewal in the 2008-09 season.

CON: During the trial of indicted Hollywood P.I. Anthony Pellicano,
prosecutors played a recording of a 2001 phone conversation between
Pellicano and an agitated Rock, who feared he was facing a rape allegation
 pretty unfunny stuff. Naturally, it was all over the Internet in
nanoseconds.